Psalms 103:7: “He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.”
Has God ever made anything known unto you? Note he made his ways known to Moses but it was his acts that he made known to the children of Israel. Why would God make his ways known to only Moses and not the children of Israel? Why does He have to make His acts known in the first place? The very nature of an act will make itself known unless God is some politician who has to remind his constituents of all his wonderful acts while serving in government.
One possible answer is that God makes His ways known to Moses because Moses already believes in God and loves God with his whole heart and he is desirous of knowing God’s ways so he can serve Him better. The children of Israel have yet to really embrace God in love so they need to be shown just what a loving God is out there that longs to receive their love.
But let’s examine some of these words in detail. The first words I need to look at are: He has made known. In the Hebrew it is one word yodi’a. This word comes from the root word yada’ which means to know. It is the same word used to suggest a sexual relationship between a man and woman. It is an intimate knowing. The verbal form is used as a Hiphal imperfect form. Thus it is in a causative form. He will cause Moses to know His ways. God is not telling Moses what his ways are, he is causing him to become intimate with His way. It is one thing to be aware of the ways of God it is another thing to know the ways of God. To be intimate with the ways of God means you are being a part of it, it is an integral part of your life, yea it is your life.
There is a very interesting play on the words here. Yoda’i is a play on the word yod which is like the letter yod. The word itself means to thrust upon, almost forcing its way into existence. It comes from the same root as the word yad which is the word for hand and means power. I believe this play on words was to suggest that God just didn’t dangle his ways before Moses like some bait on a hook. He thrust it upon Moses with great power.
I think for most of us God speaks to us in gentle loving ways to guide us into His will, but you know what, there are sometimes I am just too stubborn and pig headed to get the message so he has to yod thrust His way upon me and cause me to understand His way. He had to appear to Moses in a burning bush, it took an angelic appearance to convince Joseph to hang in there with Mary and it took a blinding light to bring Saul, later Paul to his senses. God is not adverse to yod yada’ thrusting Himself into the picture.
This word way in the Hebrew has many possible renderings. It is the word derek which could mean a path, a direction or a way of life. It is also used for moral character as the way of life should follow a certain moral character. It is also meant for a journey.
I believe with the case of Moses God made Moses’s life’s derek journey clear to him, the journey that God desired he take. I think God does the same for each of us. We may not know the particulars of our derek journey, we just know that our derek journey will follow a moral path, a path which will bring pleasure to God. There are times, as I found myself recently, we end up seeking a path which would bring pleasure to me. After all, I am not getting younger, there are still a few things on my bucket list that I wish to experience only they are not on God’s list. So when I found myself pursing this derek, this path the Lord had to yodi’a cause me to stop and know His way.
I am sure the idea of bringing a couple million people into the Promised Land was not exactly on Moses’s bucket list. He found a nice little life for himself shepherding sheep. I am sure there were many times when the people murmured and complained when Dothan rose up in rebellion, when Moses was falsely accused of adultery and dipping into the tabernacle funds (as recorded in the Talmud) that he longed for those simple days as a shepherd.
Times I don’t like the derek (way) that God has chosen for me to take. I think of what my life could have been had I not followed in the way of God. The sacrifices that I would not have taken, the activities and vocation I could have taken that would have left me in a different state of affairs than what I am presently in. Yet, like many, God had yodi’a thrust his way upon me and when the dust settles I usually end up saying: “It is well with my soul.”
Years ago there was a song that was sung in church. I have not heard it for many many years now but the words are just as clear to me now as they were when I was just a child. The song was call simply Submission. If Moses and David were alive today they would be singing this song as a duet in perfect harmony:
The path that I have trod, has brought me nearer God,
Though oft it led through sorrows gates.
Though not the way I’d choose, in my way I might lose
The joy that yet for me awaits.
The cross that I must bear, if I a crown would wear,
Is not the cross, that I would take
But since on me ‘tis laid, I’ll take it unafraid;
An bear it for the Master’s sake
Not what I wish to be, nor where I wish to go.
For who am I that I should choose my way.
The Lord shall choose for me, tis better far I know,
So let him bid me go or stay.
When the Lord yodi’a thrust his way upon you, don’t hesitate, grab it like Moses did after the burning bush for in the end it is worth it. I know, I really yada’ know.
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